Renée Fleming comes to Carnegie Hall this week, accompanied by Hartmut Höll, for a performance that includes songs from Brad Mehldau's The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, featuring the poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke, as heard on Mehldau and Fleming's 2006 album Love Sublime. The Washington Post said of Fleming's performance at The Kennedy Center on Saturday that the program "showcased her gifts beautifully." Mehldau performs his Highway Rider at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA next week and offers a solo program at Carnegie Hall later this month.

The Black Keys got the new year off to a rocking good start as musical guests on the first Saturday Night Live episode of the year over the weekend, playing two songs off their Grammy-nominated album Brothers: "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up." Watch the performances here. The band performs "Howlin' for You" on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight. In more TV news, the band's set on Austin City Limits airs on PBS on January 22, along with Sonic Youth's. You can watch a preview from the show here as well.

Emmylou Harris kicks off the 2011 Sydney Festival ... John Adams Slonimsky's Earbox featured in LA Phil live cinematic broadcast across the US ... Timothy Andres performs with his brother in Connecticut ... The Black Keys are musical guests on Saturday Night Live ... Björk hosts karaoke marathon in Iceland to fight energy company sale ... David Byrne talks Here Lies Love on MPR's The Current ... Randy Newman joins Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans ... The Low Anthem plays close to home ... Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music closes on Broadway ... Allen Toussaint plays Tokyo ... and more ...

Punch Brothers kick off their 2011 tour schedule next week with two shows in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe spoke with Chris Thile about the band, which it describes as "the rare band of musicians who are all virtuosos in their own right. Progressive bluegrass is the shorthand for what they do, but that doesn’t capture the music’s full scope." The Boston Herald calls them a "progressive bluegrass supergroup" that has "fast become the hottest pickers in the land."

John Adams's 1987 opera Nixon in China receives its Met premiere on February 2, with the composer on the podium and Peter Sellars directing. To coincide with this momentous occasion, Nonesuch will reissue the Grammy-winning original cast recording in a newly redesigned and specially-priced three-CD set with new notes by Adams and Sellars. Among the events marking the production are a conversation with Sellars at the Asia Society; a preview with Adams, Sellars, and cast members hosted by WQXR; and a conversation at the Met with the creators. The February 12 performance of Nixon in China will be broadcast live in movie theaters around the world.

Wanda Jackson has added further live dates to her upcoming, sold-out New York City and Los Angeles record release shows. The newly announced tour dates include a Grand Ole Opry performance in Nashville, a second Los Angeles show, a return to New York, and stops in Philadelphia, Boston, DC, and Dallas. Jackson is scheduled to perform with Jack White & The Third Man House Band on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 20 and Conan on January 25.

True Grit, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has been winning over audiences since its release last month. The New York Times takes a look at the impact this popularity—its having "shocked Hollywood by burning up the box office"—might have at the Academy Awards. That the film score by Carter Burwell is ineligible for Oscar is a "shame," says the Los Angeles Times, "as Burwell’s work on True Grit is some of his grandest to date." It works "equally well for big-screen vistas and solitary contemplation."

Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is due out in just over a month, February 8, and is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an autographed 7” of the album’s first single. SPIN names Mayfield on of the 5 Best New Artists for January. Pitchfork has included Tell Me in its list of Records to Look Forward to in Winter 2011. American Songwriter has it in its list of Ten Albums We're Excited for in 2011, saying, "It's made up of twelve of Mayfield’s 'personal inner monologues,' and mixes emotional ballads with intelligent pop ditties."

Youssou N'Dour has been named among the world's 50 Great Voices according to NPR, a diverse list that also includes Björk, Asha Bhosle, Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Robert Plant, and dozens of others—"awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time." On NPR's All Things Considered, contributor Banning Eyre says that throughout his long and varied career, "N'Dour has remained on top, without question Senegal's most beloved singer."

The Black Keys are in New York City this week to kick off the new year and the new season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live with host Jim Carrey. This appearance comes after a monumentally successful 2010 for the duo, which they closed out with three sold-out New Year's shows at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom. The Chicago Tribune says the band is an example of "how modern artists can earn mainstream success without sacrificing integrity," their live show exhibiting the "combination of persistence and persuasion that helped the band own 2010."

Sara Watkins and her brother Sean were featured on NPR's Folk Alley over the holiday week. Sara discussed the many projects with she has been involved since her earliest days in Nickel Creek, not least her 2009 self-titled Nonesuch debut album, from which the two perform a number of songs live. She will guest-host A Prairie Home Companion on January 15 and will tour with The Decemberists starting later this month.

As 2010 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2011, it's time to take a look back and remember all the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists this year. Several of these artists and their 2010 Nonesuch releases were nominated for Grammy Awards; many have made music critics' year-end best lists. Here is a look back.